I am a Jewish-American woman who just traveled to Iran alone for 10 days; AMA!

Hi Reddit - I just returned from a 10-day trip to Iran. It was my third visit to the country, but the first time I had traveled there alone. (I also traveled to Iran last year with my husband, and back in 1999 with a group of scientists to see a total solar eclipse). AMA!

While this trip was purely personal in nature, I should note that in May of this year (after I already started planning my visit), I joined the American Iranian Council (us-iran.org), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works to improve relations between the US and Iran, and I am currently its Director of Operations. I am not posting here to promote the AIC in any way, though I am proud of its work. My joining AIC, my recent travel to Iran, and my posting here, all stem from the same place: My strong belief that Iran is misrepresented and misunderstood in the US and wanting to try to help remedy that.

Looking forward to answering your questions!

EDIT: Thank you all for your great, thoughtful questions; I really enjoyed the conversation. I will check back here periodically, but I am signing off for now.

Looks like a great trip. My wife and I had a similar experience a couple of years ago in Iran. It is the only place in the world (a bit over 100 countries visited now) where we have felt more welcomed than the average tourist because we are American. Really incredible hospitality. Frankly it was exhausting by the end of each day. Many in the US seem to forget that people do not ordinarily mirror the views of their government and Iran is probably one of the best examples of such contrast. The picture that's painted of the country and it's people in the US could not be further from the actual experience on the ground.

If you're on the fence about travel to Iran: just go. It's very rewarding to challenge your preconceptions and to, hopefully, prove them wrong.

I see you traveled to Mashhad/Khorasan. I'm curious what cultural differences you noticed in that part of Iran? Any noticeable differences in food there? Any smaller towns/villages that you would recommend?

Thanks for sharing your experience! The difference between perception and reality is really what underlies my fascination with this country. I love plot twists and surprises in stories, and Iran is a real life version of that for travel.

As for going off the beaten path on this trip -- My favorite place was Kolijah, the tiny Turkman village (population a couple hundred?) an hour outside Gonbad Kavus, where I had a homestay in a small house (just 3 rooms), and where I had a chance to go horseback-riding and do some great hiking to a 4000yr old graveyard; there were some absolutely gorgeous views. Just viewing life in this little village was also a treat.

As for food – Mashhad’s specialty is saffron, so almost every 5th store in the main bazaar was a saffron shop, and of course it made it into most foods. They also had a tasty ice cream that I had instead of dinner one night – it’s called Maajun with crushed walnuts, pistachios, ice cream, cream, banana and honey.

Beyond the scenery and food, the most noticeable difference from the “classic itinerary” was the lack of English spoken. In Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, etc, most people will speak some English and be excited to practice. On the road to Mashhad and back, there was almost none. There were also very few tourists and people were shocked to see me there (the only tourist group I saw was a group from Spain, near Mashhad) – vs of course tons of tourists in the main cities.

Good question; I didn’t get to watch a lot of the news while I was there, but I did catch a bit of PressTV (the English language government propaganda ‘news’ channel). I didn’t see anything specific to Syria that I can recall; most of the time the newscasters were just railing against Saudi Arabia (re: Yemen, their handling of the Hajj, and one of the top Saudi clerics suggesting that Iranians weren’t Muslim).

Re: Israel - I don’t think Israelis are allowed into Iran. I was told on all my trips to ensure that my passport did not have a stamp to Israel, and if it does, to make sure to get a new one.

Hi! Thank you for doing this. Right now, it seems Iran is in the midst of a historic political fight that will decide the future trajectory of the Islamic Republic. As you know, the main splitting point is on relations with the United States, with the pro-détente/rapprochement camp currently in control of the presidency and the “hardliners” opposed to any normalization in charge of most other centers of power (IRGC, judiciary, national media, Friday prayer leaders, etc.)

The Supreme Leader is also in the latter camp and has since the JCPOA was struck emphatically opposed further talks with the US and accused the US of not following through on its JCPOA commitments. He has also introduced the issue of U.S. infiltration; warning of American-tied elements that are seeking to undermine and topple the Islamic Republic from within.

Of course, a lot of this has to do with the Iranian presidential election next year and an effort by hardliners to weaken Rouhani and those around him. With that said, the new target for Iran’s security establishment are those trying to foster U.S.-Iran engagement and better ties (which the Supreme Leader gave license for with his infiltration warning). All the recent arrests of dual nationals, especially people like Siamak Namazi, give credence to this.

As such, AIC would seem to be a prime target. Were you at all concerned during your recent trip about potentially being arrested given this volatile environment? Seems you had ample reason to be so.

That’s a good question. As a normal tourist I wouldn’t have had any concerns. As you mentioned, the people who typically get detained are either journalists or dual-nationals. (For those who don't know: Since Iran doesn’t recognize the concept of dual-citizenship, Iranian Americans who visit Iran are always in danger of the government claiming that they are only Iranian, and not allowing them to leave. Or requiring that they stay to do military service (or pay it off)).

My new association with AIC – and as you mentioned, the current political environment - gave me slightly more pause, but our president, Dr. Amirahmadi, had just traveled there a few weeks earlier without any issue.

Since I wasn’t there on official AIC business, I didn’t think I had too much to worry about. Additionally, as an American tourist, I was accompanied by a guide for most of the trip, who would have fended off any aggressive inquiries in public. Finally – and perhaps its naive - but I also felt that my intentions for travelling there were so positive (to show Americans that Iran is not how they envision it) – that explaining this purpose for my trip would have given even the most ardent revolutionary some pause in detaining me.

This isn't a matter of dual nationality. Regardless of your nationality, once you are in a country, you are subject to the laws of that country. Being a foreign national or a dual national does not exempt you from the local laws, anywhere.

Being a dual national is not really relevant. If an Iranian-American breaks a US law, he is subject to US prosecution. If an Iranian-American breaks an Iranian law, he is similarly subject to prosecution in Iran.

Sounds like you had no issues, but you also are probably more informed than most as far as how to carry yourself; what is something considered relatively innocuous here in America that could get you in trouble if you do it in Iran?

Well, the most obvious one is that you can’t drink alcohol in public. Second, there’s the dress code, so women always have to cover their hair, though that has relaxed a lot since I was there first in 1999 (nowadays many women show about half of their head, with their scarves dangling off of ponytails in the back).

For me, the strangest requirement that seems relatively innocuous, is that Americans can’t (technically) go into the homes of Iranians. (This rule only applies for Americans, Canadians and UK citizens). This created some headaches for me in terms of coordinating with my friend Nastaran and her family in Tehran. They kept asking me to stay in their home vs. a hotel, and I kept saying I wasn’t allowed (I don’t think they believed me). I also needed to list every person I was going to meet with on my visa application, but I had only listed my friend’s name and not also her family. This caused some issues, where the tour agency claimed I wasn’t allowed to (technically) meet with her family since they weren’t listed on the visa app.

Re: Perceptions of the US -- Americans are treated like rock stars in Iran. With my first visit in 1999 I was constantly asked for my autograph. On my last two visits, the request was for selfies. People love America; I cannot emphasize that enough. With something like 70% of the population having been born after 1979, the population is young; they love American culture and many have family who emigrated to America after the revolution. Many want rapprochement with the West; they want to study here and live here. And while the revolutionary line is officially anti-American, I can say that the viewpoint doesn’t even seem to touch the military. I met a member of the notorious “Basij” on my latest trip, and when I told him where I was from – he was so excited he gave me a free jar of honey (which he was selling), to express his affection for the United States and hope that I would view Iran more positively.

Re: Living in Iran – For pure beauty and interest in the culture, I would definitely consider retiring there when I’m older. Hesitations would be pollution (it’s particularly atrocious in Tehran), and getting accustomed to the social system of ta’arof. I met a lovely woman from the UK who had moved to Tehran for a year while handling her divorce, and she said it was extremely difficult to transition from the “straight-forward” way that business transactions are handled in the West, with the round-about way that transactions are handled in Iran. For example, said she had no idea where to start when renovating her house, regarding how much ‘extra’ she needed to pay the contractor over the agreed-upon amount, for him to actually do the work.

The biggest issue I had was being detained and interrogated by Homeland Security for nearly 2 hours on my return. They kept referring to “San Bernadino,” and asking “who I met with” in Iran. I kept trying to explain that no one goes to Iran to become radicalized (they’re some of the least religious people in the Middle East with a Friday prayer attendance rate of less than 2%) – and by the way, everyone there loves Americans. This didn’t speed up my questioning process, unfortunately.

In Iran, I didn’t have any issues. Last time my husband and I were fingerprinted upon entry, but this time they just let me go right through.

As for fun: Since it was my third trip, I didn’t feel the pressure to “see all the sights.” Instead, I spent the first two days casually wandering Tehran with my friend (someone I had met on my first visit in 1999). We spent most of our time shopping, walking around some parks (including the zoo), getting food, etc. I really enjoyed seeing how regular Iranians spend their time. For instance, I spent my second-to-last day in Namak Abrud where people were picnicking and ziplining. In Gorgon, I enjoyed watching people smoke hookah next to some gorgeous waterfalls.

The food is great! The standard fare in most restaurants is kebab with rice, but for variety, I definitely recommend the stews (fesenjun is my favorite – a sweet dish with pomegranate and walnuts; gormeh sabzi, and khoresht badamjoon (fried eggplant stew) are also both good).Interesting things include a sour yogurt drink called doogh (I didn’t care for it), pickled garlic (not actually that bad), and surprising varieties of jam for breakfast (including carrot!). The only hesitation I would have recommending Iran as a culinary destination would be for vegetarians. Most dishes are focused around meat, and ‘salad’ is not considered a main dish – ever.

Yes; briefly! I went to the main synagogue in Tehran (Synagogue of Yousef Abad – some pictures of it towards the end of the picture album linked above).After some effort in finding it (no one seems to use Google maps in Iran), I saw a guy with a yarmulke and I literally yelled after him to ask where the synagogue was. He pointed where he was going and I was thrilled to have found it. Service was starting, so I had to use most of my limited Farsi skills to plead my case for a photo (“I’m American and Jewish and want to show people there are synagogues in Iran!”), but I did have a chance to ask a few people if it was hard being Jewish in Iran, and they all said “No, not at all.” I would have loved to chat more, but didn’t want to bother them too much, and none of them spoke any English, so communication would have been slow-going.

The people I met mostly just spoke Persian (or English - primarily in Tehran). They can read Arabic and cite a few key religious phrases, but I think that tends to be it. The Jews I met in the synagogue also spoke Hebrew. And the people in the Turkman village I went to spoke Turkish and Turkmen.

I was more open about being Jewish on this visit (which came up more than in the past since I went to the religious city of Mashhad and a lot of people asked me if I was Muslim), but it didn’t really engender any interesting responses (I guess that’s a good thing!). Mainly people kept recommending I visit the city of Hamadan in western Iran where you can find the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai. As I answered to the question above, I did get to visit a synagogue in Tehran, which was a lovely experience!

Honestly, I think they have thicker hair or something. Mine constantly kept falling. I was able to remedy this slightly by folding my scarves over twice so that there was less weight pulling them down in the back. When I asked my friend for tips, she just shrugged and said hers falls off too and she doesn’t worry about it.

Note - my scarf fell off outside of one of the holiest places in Iran – the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad. I got some looks, but then put it back on without any problem. No one yelled at me. (Note: Inside the shrine they are sticklers for ANY hair showing).

It sounds like a lot of the inflammatory Iranian rhetoric about the US (And the US's about Iran for that matter) doesn't align with your experiences there. (In particular, I read your response about your issues coming back into the US and the Homeland Security questions)

Would you mind speaking a bit (in whatever direction you feel moved) about your impressions on the juxtaposition between Politician's (US, Iranian, or both) rhetoric and the effects you see in the respective populaces'?

I know this is a bit open ended, but having read your other answers, I'm struck that my only insights into Iran come courtesy of headlines and political conflicts - and it sounds like the reality in the populace is very, very different. Is that your impression as well?

Interesting question. I guess my top-line response would be that the governments and media in both countries demonize one other, and that this tends to affect Americans’ views of Iran, but not as strongly Iranians’ views of the US.

I saw a poll suggesting that Iran has something like an 80% negative approval rating in the US. I don’t think there’s an equivalent poll showing what Iranians think about the US, but from my experience, I’d bet that the US would receive something like an 80% approval rating.

The question is – why the discrepancy? I think in Iran the people have grown incredibly resentful and frustrated with their government and take everything with a grain (or more) of salt. They are also immersed in US culture, despite government attempts to stop it (my friend Nastaran, for example, watches Game of Thrones); there are fast food joints everywhere, Apple stores, etc.

In the US – we also have frustration and distrust of our government and media, but of course not to the same extent as in Iran. The bigger issue, in my view, is just a lack of information that Americans get about Iran to counter this image. Given the hostage crisis – and how incredibly powerful that was in creating an impression about Iran for an entire generation of Americans – Americans just rarely travel there. As a result, very few people bring back stories and pictures for friends and family to show what it is really like. (I will contrast this with Germany, where the population has a generally positive view of Iran, and I think this is due in large part to the tremendous number of German tourists that visit Iran each year).

Thanks very much for taking time to answer. As a quick follow up - what other countries have you spent time in, and have you seen similar discrepancies in those countries as well with relation to the lack of information and how it impacted Americans view of said country and vice versa?

The "exports" where US culture is concerned cracked me up. It had never occurred to me that Apple Stores, fast food and GoT might be available in Iran. PS: feel free to write a book, this is fascinating!

The countries I’ve spent the most time in (lived in) have been England and Australia, but those don’t really apply. I’ve been to other places I found interesting (Bhutan, China, Antarctica (does that count?), Tunisia), but really nothing has come close to Iran in terms of having this kind of discrepancy re: information vs. perception. I haven’t been to Russia, but I’m guessing that would be a fascinating place to study media portrayal of the US and the public’s perception.

As for US culture in Iran -- The government technically filters large portions of the internet, but almost everyone has some kind of technology that they add to their phones and computers to bypass the filter. So that’s how they get access to some of the more surprising US exports like GOT. That said – I saw House of Cards playing on television while I was in Mashhad. :)

Even many fast food shops that were not branded similarly to a KFC seemed to have a subtle Colonel Sanders somewhere on their menu or logos. Sometimes it was in the background half transparent or behind text on a menu. Really odd.

The restrictions for women travelers aren't actually all that bad. The main thing is that you need to wear a scarf, and wear long sleeves and pants. Personally, I actually liked wearing a scarf on vacation – (1) You don’t need to worry about your hair AT ALL so it saves time in the morning. (2) It feels ‘exotic.’ Like you’re actually on vacation somewhere, vs. just another place like the US. (3) Covering up actually made me feel a bit safer walking alone at night.

As for why I travelled there – The first time it was to see a total solar eclipse (Esfahan was the best place to be given the low chance of cloud cover!); last year it was to show my husband the amazing country I had visited so many years ago, and this latest time it was a mix of (1) pure enjoyment, (2) to make a point that an American woman could safely travel there alone, (3) Farsi practice and (4) My husband was super busy with work, and it didn’t look like we would have the opportunity for a vacation together (If I was going to go somewhere alone, I’d prefer to go somewhere he had already been).

I'm an American Muslim convert, and I have an Iranian friend who keeps telling me how awesome Iran is to visit. So it seems lovely. But I'd be interested in visiting religious sites if I ever went and I'm curious how that's different from other types of touristy things?

The main thing as a tourist is that they are beautiful and it’s hard to stop taking photographs. Persians really know how to make some gorgeous ceilings! (I recommend checking out my husband’s photo album from last year, and his pics of Esfahan in particular on page 2).

Other than that, two other things struck me: 1. The genuine emotion and tears that people express at the holy sites. I always felt a bit uncomfortable “watching” that as a tourist, and 2. The fact that some of the major sites (particularly noticeable at the Imam Reza shrine) act as a fun family activity, where people gather and enjoy their time together.

Interesting. I expected 1 (especially from Shia Muslims, and I mean that as a positive comment about the Shia), but not 2.

I noticed in one of your other comments (maybe in the other post you linked to--I don't remember) that people asked you if you were Muslim. Would there be a difference in how you were treated if you were a foreign Muslim, do you think? Did you observe any differences?

It’s hard to say of course, if I would have been treated differently. As I mentioned, the only place this seemed to come up in conversation was in Mashhad -- and even then, I think more as a silence breaker when conversation had ended. Iranians are certainly an interesting puzzle when it comes to religion – they will openly say how much they “hate” religion because they associate it with their government (this of course also accounts for the low mosque attendance rate), and yet those very same people are very religious and pray.

The only additional notes I can make here are:

(1) My friend mentioned to me once that the government would be thrilled by the idea of a Shia convert from the US. So while I don’t know if ordinary people would react differently, she seemed to have the idea that the government would welcome a Shia convert with open arms – and in her view, free housing and food.

(2) The only specific way that I know a non-Muslim to be treated differently is that non-Muslims are forbidden to enter the main area of the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad. This isn’t to say that non-Muslims don’t go in (they aren’t quizzing people as they walk in), but large groups of obvious Western tourists probably wouldn’t be able to go unnoticed.

Yes; all Americans, Canadians and UK Citizens are (technically) required to have a tour guide with them at all times. (It can be frustrating to see all the Europeans walking on their own!).

A few notes on this:

The guide receives their license from the government, but isn’t a government representative (for example, even my friend who I met in 1999 when she was 13 yrs old, later received her tour guide license). These are individuals who are passionate about history, or meeting new people and are hired by tour agencies.

Like with any job, guides have conflicting interests. On the one hand, they need to keep their jobs and follow all the main rules. So that means keeping track of their guests and reporting back to the government at the end of the trip about whether we did anything incredibly suspicious. On the other hand – they also want their customers to have a good time (and leave a nice tip at the end). The most important thing to note is that the guides are human and need to rest and can’t possibly watch you 24/7 even if they wanted to.

The mix of factors in #2 above is why I say “technically” in the intro. While Americans are not “technically” supposed to go out on their own, all these factors actually leave you plenty of time to go around and wander without your guide.

On this latest trip, whenever we arrived somewhere after a long drive, my guide would want to go into the hotel and rest (he was a lot older than me), while I was ready to go out and tour! So, I would go out and enjoy long walks on my own, without any difficulty whatsoever. I even got a chance to take a bus alone in Mashhad, which was really fun (the buses are separated by gender, and the entire female section was abuzz with helping me navigate my trip, and trying to take pictures with me).

No question they exist (as with anywhere), but I didn’t meet any. The most stereotypical that anyone got was my friend’s father, who lamented that so many Jews leaving the country after the revolution meant it was hard to find a good doctor.

Salam! As an American-born Iranian, it makes me happy to see someone else have the positive experience I had when I was there. What did you think of ta'arof? It was definitely hard for me to get used to when I was there, but I was also only 14 and feel that might have contributed to the frustration. Also, what were some of your favorite foods while there? Thanks!

Hi Thanks for IAmA,i Read most of comments and your respond to them and it sounds they was pretty hospitable,do you think if people from Iran visit U.S they get same experience as yours? if not,Why is that so?

I mean that's fine, you can claim your unqualified to give an answer, but, anyone can offer opinions. For example, I'm not homosexual, but I can have an informed opinion on gay marriage.

But, you are involved in a panel looking to grow US Iran relations, right? Isn't "support for Israel" an issue in these relations? I would assume that yes, you have an opinion on the blockades, the apartheid style regulations of the Palestinian people, and, the money the US govt sends to Israel, as all of these would play a part in US Iran relations ;).

And, anyone can see the lapse in logic to the "ancestoral home" claim, made by zionists. As, the "promised land" was the ancestoral home of 7 cannanite tribes, prior to the armed invasion by the israelis.

But yea, as someone involved in us iran relations, you should be well aware of us Israel relations, and how it impacts us iran relations ;).